New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-23
SECRETARY UHITNEYrS Guns.

Secretary whitney Is rs Didly shaken UP
by tho Atlantas gun practice as the vessels
gun-decl1 itself. The recent exhibition OF
Department incompetence ought to have left
him in q subdued and chas, cned frame OF
mind. There has been disgraceful blunder-
ing in the ships armament, and he and his
subordinates are wholly responsible for it
Tho 6-inch and S-inch guns arc not too
large for the ship. They can be fred at full
charge by the dozen rounds, If they arc
properly mounted The Odnancc Bureau
has been tinkcring for over year with
tracks and carriages, and has completely
demonstrated its ignorance and incapacity.
Two rounds fred in the recent Ia gct-prc-
tico disabled several gun-carriages ami caused
considerable damage to tho vessel. This ig-
nominious failure does not indicate thaa
there Is structural weakness in the vessel or
that there were fundamental blunders In de-
signing or construction. 1t simply proves
that the guns were improperly mounted and
that the Ordnance Bureau did not know what
it was about. Tho responsibility rests there
md with tho present administration OF the
Department. Instead of recognizing this fact
in q becoming spirit OF mcokncss, Secretary
Whitney, like his own kicking guns, recoils
at full charge upon the previous Administra-
lion. This Is the Characteristic style In
which he discusses the subject:
She is meant as a fighting ship and must be further
tested 1t is to be remembered that her completion
furnishes an opportunity to tho Department Of deter
mining by experiment many matters az to which
the Department has heretofore been without practical
experience 1t Is important that whatever Is to be
learned from her should be ascertained at once and
bard haQu bepu IN In he
Of the later ships. 1t is important that full test Of
her should be had at She should have cruise
at sea sufficiently long to subject her TO trial In all
weathers. Her battery should DO tested by actual
firing until It's working characteristics are determined
and defects, II any, discovered For these purposes
a board will DO appointed and the matter settled at
the earliest day. She was built by my predecessor
under the direction OF the Advisory Board
1t does not matter whether the vessel was
quilt under Republican or a democratic
Administration. The ship has been salts
factorily tested in several trial-trips and voy-
gcs, has proved herself TO be stanch and
,eaworthy craft, and much faster than was
anticipated The armament was not fur
nished by either Secretary Chandler or John
Roach. Secretary Whitney and the Ord
rance Bureau are them elves responsible for
the wretched work In mounting the guns on
lght carriages and in providing tracks which
are torn up whenever the battery is fired.
They cannot hope to cvade that responsibility
by dragging the Sec ctarys pred ccssor and
tho dead contractor into the sc ape.
What nonsense it is for the Secretary to
make a point Of testing the Atlanta in oil
kinds Of weather and insisting upon sending
her on long voyage. The target-practice
did not cast suspicion upon the vessels sta
blity and seaworthiness. 1t simply proved
that the Secretary's Ordnance Bureau did
not know how to mount the guns, or TO de-
sign tho carriages or to fasten the tracks to
tho gun-deck 1t is sheer madness TO talk
of ordering full test at once, sending tho
ship out in search of storm and sub jecting
her TO trial in all wcathers. II the Atlanta's
'uns cannot be fred at quarter charge in
a quiet roadstead without injury to the ship,
they cannot be fred at full charge in rough
weather on the open sea without wrec1ing
Ter completely. There is no ironclad aloat
that can endure tho strain Of badly MOUNTED
guns kicking at random about the gun-deck.
The Dolphin's cruise after storm ought to
have satisfied the Secretary. The best thing
for him to do is to order the Atlanta into
port, and. then to reorganize the Ordnance